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September 2020

When Wish Replaces Thought Here is the indigestible truth for the Democrats. Donald Trump has had the most successful first term of any president in memory, maybe ever. By Roger Kimball

https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/05/when-wish-replaces-thought/

Don’t you just love Paul Krugman? One of loudest of the many anti-Trump hysterics employed by the New York Times, the former economist has been a reliable source of comedy at least since election night 2016. Once the worst was certain and the world learned that Donald Trump had indeed been elected president of the United States, Krugman pondered the markets, which had plunged overnight. “When might we expect them to recover?” he asked. “A first-pass answer is never . . . So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight.”

What a card! I think we all deserve a Nobel Prize in economics. If Krugman can snag one, why not Stanley down at the bar? He says a lot of stupid things, too. 

Krugman never disappoints. On Thursday, September 3, he published an opinion piece in the Times called “Trump and the Attack of the Invisible Anarchists.” The burden of the piece was twofold. On the one hand, having picked up that week’s propaganda memo from Democratic National Committee headquarters, he parroted the new talking point about the riots ripping (Democratic) cites apart. 

Earlier this summer, the gospel was that there were no riots, only justly aggrieved citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to protest the heinous, cold-blooded murder of the violent career criminal and fentanyl abuser George Floyd. (Oops, that was from the teacher’s version of the manual: scrap “violent career criminal and fentanyl abuser.”) 

At some point, that narrative was canceled. The new narrative admits that there are riots, but insists that they are all Donald Trump’s fault because . . . 

Excuse me, we’re having trouble with reception. Forget that last bit: scratch “because” and just listen to the great Nobel laureate explain what’s really going on.  

Enjoy a sleight of hand show? How’s this? The “anarchists” that Donald Trump and other knuckle-dragging neanderthals are trying to scare mama with don’t really exist, not really. Look again, those people rampaging on the streets of Portland, St. Louis, Seattle, Chicago, Oakland, Washington, D.C., Kenosha, New York: they’re invisible. Paul Krugman can’t see them. He walked across Central Park to his doctor and encountered no mayhem, none. “It was a beautiful day,” he noted, “and the city looked cheerful . . . Central Park was full of joggers and cyclists.” An aspiring if wayward disciple of Bishop Berkeley, Krugman seems to have adopted a variety of the esse est percipi. If Krugman doesn’t perceive something, it doesn’t exist. 

The Murder of an American “Blasphemer” in Pakistan by Raymond Ibrahim

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16422/pakistan-american-murdered

Although Tahir Naseem’s teenage killer was apprehended and is being charged with murder, he is, among many people in Pakistan, a great hero.

“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often used against religious minorities and others who are the target of false accusations.” — Amnesty International, December 21, 2016.

Worse, if many have already decided on a guilty verdict for blasphemy before any of the facts are even presented, they will take “justice” into their own hands. Radicals have been also known to threaten or murder lawyers and public figures who defended the accused.

From the point of view of many in Pakistan, by killing the American blasphemer Naseem in court, all that the 15-year-old Khan did was to implement Pakistani law as stated in Section 295. His actions are then seen as a reflection of the zealous love he bears for Islam, and rather than being punished, Khan deserves only the highest praise.

A recent murder has cast a “fresh spotlight on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.” On July 29, 2020, Tahir Naseem, 57, a U.S. citizen, was shot dead in a Pakistani courtroom during a bail hearing for a charge of blasphemy, which included “denigrating the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad,” Reuters reported. Although his teenage killer was apprehended and is being charged with murder, he is, among many people in Pakistan, a great hero:

Black Christian Lives Apparently Do Not Matter by Giulio Meotti

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16458/black-christian-lives

In Nigeria, over the past twenty years, 100,000 Christians have been killed…. Nigeria is becoming the “biggest killing ground of Christians in the world”.

Nigeria, already the most populous African country, could have a population of about 800 million people in the year 2100, according to a study by The Lancet, and could become the ninth-largest economy in the world.

How many could be saved if the media, the chancelleries and international organizations had put pressure on the Nigerian leadership to protect its Christians? Why has the West never linked trade, diplomatic, military and political exchanges with Nigeria to protecting its Christians?

US President Donald Trump, in 2018, raised the issue with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. “We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria”, Trump told him. President Trump, however, is almost alone among Western leaders to raise the issue. When his predecessor, President Barack Obama, met with Buhari, he never talked about the murders of Christians.

“Stop the killings”, “Enough is enough”, “Our lives matter”, said Nigerian Christians and church leaders gathered in London on August 20 to demonstrate against the massacre of Christians in their country. They sent British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a letter accusing the international media of “a conspiracy of silence”.

At the same time, a report by three organizations — the International Organization for Peace Building and Social Justice, the International Committee on Nigeria and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief — disclosed that in Nigeria, over the past 20 years, 100,000 Christians have been killed. Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Fulani herdsmen and other Islamist groups are responsible for the deaths of more than 96,000 Christians in 21,000 separate attacks. According to the report, 43,242 Christians were killed by Boko Haram, Islamic State and Al Qaeda; 18,834 died in Fulani attacks and 34,233 from other armed groups. Nigeria is becoming the “biggest killing ground of Christians in the world”.

A Night in D.C. That Should Never Have Happened in America: Time to Investigate Rabbi Aryeh Spero

https://thefederalist.com/2020/09/04/what-i-saw-when-the-mob-attacked-after-tr
What I Saw When The Mob Attacked After Trump’s Speech In Washington DC

Washington DC’s mayor and police failed to provide basic protections to American citizens from an angry and extremely well-funded leftist mob.

The highlight of the last night of the Republican National Convention was President Trump’s acceptance speech of his party’s nomination on the South Lawn of the White House. My wife and I attended this magical event. I say magical because the White House was lit up splendidly as nightfall fell over the sprawling verdant grounds surrounding the magnificent building.

The president was introduced by his daughter, Ivanka. Attendees endured a purposeful and loud noise from the street contiguous to the White House to the east. The hooligans making this noise did so to distract the speakers and discomfort the attendees. It went on for a very long time.

This purposeful and high-pitched, overbearing noise would never have been allowed had a Democrat been president. The mayor and the police department would never have permitted such an indignity to happen.

Beyond that, there are “nuisance laws” in every locale in this country forbidding people from taking over neighborhood streets, especially late at night, and creating explosive noises that make it impossible for the residents of the neighborhood to live a normal life. Why these nuisance laws were ignored and denied to the president and his guests was inexplicable.

The Left’s ‘moral’ crusade against Israel and Zionism Settlers, it is claimed, are undermining the “rule of law.” This generates self-doubt and feelings of guilt and shame. By Moshe Dann

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-lefts-moral-crusade-against-israel-and-zionism-641210

Accusations Israel is “occupying Palestinian territory,” “stealing Palestinian land” and building “illegal settlements” – which the ICC’s chief prosecutor, a Muslim, condemns as “war crimes” – are commonly used by Israel’s enemies to denounce and delegitimize Israel. Although thoroughly refuted, these legal arguments are effective weapons in the propaganda war against Israel.

Less controversial, however, is a moral argument which appeals to many, including marginal Jews and leftist Israelis who consider themselves to be pro-Israel and Zionists; this helps to explain why people turn against Israel. It is a generally accepted principle that one national group should not rule over and suppress minorities under its control. Used successfully against racist regimes in South Africa, Rhodesia and other countries, it is used to depict Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

This crusade is also part of the Left’s media campaign against Israel (i.e. Jews) who target “innocent Palestinians,” such as the “al-Dura incident,” in which a child was killed by a Palestinian sniper but was blamed on the IDF. It is used to depict “Jewish settlers” (most of whom are religious) for violence against left-wing activists who attack Jewish-owned property and efforts by Jews to protect their homes and property.

They are powerful indictments because, even though they are untrue, they suggest that Israel is violating laws and human rights and, just as important, Jewish ethics and values – justice. Settlers, it is claimed, are undermining the “rule of law.” This generates self-doubt and feelings of guilt and shame.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

 www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
More patients to receive Covid-19 treatment. Israel’s Pluristem (reported here previously) has launched an FDA-cleared Covid-19 expanded access program. It enables Pluristem to use its PLX-PAD cells to treat up to 100 more infected patients outside its current trials in the USA and Europe and compassionate use in Israel.
https://www.pluristem.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/PSTI-Expanded-Access-Program-last-version.pdf
 
Maintaining Covid-19 antibodies. Israel’s Elicio Therapeutics has published the results of a pre-clinical study of its ELI-005 protein subunit vaccine for Covid-19. It extended the life of coronavirus antibodies and may resolve the problem whereby patients who recover from the virus can be re-infected if later exposed to it.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2020/08/24/israeli-startup-elicio-therapeutics-fights-covid-19-with-immunotherapy/   https://elicio.com/
 
Breath test for Covid-19. Technion’s Hossam Haick, the Israeli-Arab Professor who invented the Sniffphone cancer detector (reported here previously) has led the development of another Israeli coronavirus breathalyzer test (see here for previous). The rest of his team is in Wuhan, China where Covid-19 likely originated.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2020/08/23/breathalyzer-tests-for-corona-virus-israel-scientists-say-yes/
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.0c05657
 
UK uses Israeli colon cancer risk software. (TY Hazel) Barts Health, one of the largest providers to the UK’s National Health Service, has selected the ColonFlag software from Israel’s Medial EarlySign (reported here previously) to identify members at high risk for developing colon cancer – the UK’s 4th most common cancer.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/uks-barts-health-to-use-israeli-tech-to-flag-patients-at-risk-for-colon-cancer/
 
Stimulating the brain to help quit smoking. The US FDA has approved the use of the Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) system from Israel’s BrainsWay (see here) to treat cigarette smokers who seek to quit. The patient wears a helmet containing a patented H-coil that generates a magnetic field for 20-minutes.  
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3846389,00.html
 
First delivery of burns treatment. Israel’s Mediwound (reported here previously) has delivered its first batch of its Nexobrid treatment for burns to BARDA (the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) for the US Department of Health’s emergency response preparedness.
http://ir.mediwound.com/news-releases/news-release-details/mediwound-and-vericel-announce-acceptance-first-delivery
 
DayTwo wins Roche Diabetes Care Innovation contest. Israel’s DayTwo (reported here previously) won the 2020 Roche Diabetes Care Innovation Contest. Its virtual pitch convinced the judges that its personalized nutrition solution, using microbiome data, could best integrate with Roche Diabetes Care.
https://www.israel21c.org/daytwo-wins-roche-diabetes-care-innovation-contest/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_n3H8XlIGo
 
The patient room of 2030. (TY Stuart Pl) This video simulates how the futuristic patient rooms at Israel’s Sheba hospital integrate artificial intelligence, robotic technologies, wearable devices, virtual reality and other smart technology to simulate the most extreme medical situations, including the current coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdQEVGHP3NE
 
 

Kyle Goes to Kenosha: A Folk Hero Is Born By Ilana Mercer

https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/04/kyle-goes-to-kenosha-a-folk-hero-is-born/

Tired of waiting on a neutered, coopted, infiltrated and compromised police to come to the rescue? Let law-abiding taxpayers hire private protection of Kyle Rittenhouse’s caliber.

Having done an about face against rioting, CNN’s sanctimonious Don Lemon giggled and smirked his way through a segment about “racist” white suburbanites who had the gall to imagine any self-respecting rioter would bother with their ugly abodes. Hey, racists, there is no Gucci merchandise where you bunk down, taunted CNN’s silly man.

Desperate, suddenly, to appear on the side of normies, the Fourth Estate is currently yearning for a Sister Souljah moment. Sister Souljah had expressed sympathy for the 1992 Los Angeles rioters. If only black people would turn to killing whites instead of one another, lamented that eponymous rapper.

Back then, Bill Clinton—a master politician, and a conservative by the standards of Democrats today—diffused her weasel words. Candidate Clinton called the rapper a racist as bad as David Duke. As a master of triangulation, he managed at once to appease whites (who mattered back then) without alienating black Americans. 

And, unlike Anderson Cooper, Bill Clinton felt your pain.

Behold the puzzled look on Cooper’s bewildered face, as he is told by an ordinary, working American what it means to lose your life’s work to louts and looters. The silver-haired Cooper, also a CNN celebrity anchor, is the son of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Perhaps he cannot comprehend the concept of private property owners defending their modest residences and meager businesses given the fact that he grew up in a castle.

Amid Riots, Washington and Lee University Offers a Class on ‘How to Overthrow the State’ By Tyler O’Neil

https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/09/04/amid-riots-washington-and-lee-university-offers-a-class-on-how-to-overthrow-the-state-n893961

This fall at Washington and Lee University (removal of Lee pending), students will learn reading writing, arithmetic — and “How to Overthrow the State.” As antifa riots have continued in Portland for almost 100 nights, students at the Virginia university named after George Washington and Robert E. Lee* will study Marxist revolutions in the Global South, complete with role-playing regime change.

Writing Seminar 100-18, “How to Overthrow the State,” will award each student three credits toward graduation.

“This course places each student at the head of a popular revolutionary movement aiming to overthrow a sitting government and forge a better society,” a course description explains. “How will you attain power? How will you communicate with the masses? How do you plan on improving the lives of the people? How will you deal with the past?”

“From Frantz Fanon to Che Guevara to Mohandas Ghandi and others, we explore examples of revolutionary thought and action from across the Global South,” the description adds. “Students engage these texts by participating in a variety of writing exercises, such as producing a Manifesto, drafting a white paper that critically analyzes a particular issue, and writing a persuasive essay on rewriting history and confronting memory.”

While there is nothing wrong with studying Marxist revolutionaries like Che Guevara, it does seem a bit unnerving that a university class would encourage students to emulate them and to “overthrow the state” — especially amid violent riots and looting in cities across America.Conservatives, who are already rightly worried about academia undermining American patriotism and teaching Marxism, naturally condemned the Washington and Lee course.

Who Will Save America from the Democrats’ Race Obsession? Roger L. Simon

https://www.theepochtimes.com/who-will-save-america-from-the-democrats-psychotic-race-obsession_3488928.html

Worse than Trump Derangement Syndrome, the Democrats suffer from Racial Derangement Syndrome (RDS)—a desire to find racism under every rock and down every rabbit hole.

Recent examples are myriad. A particularly amusing one comes from their presidential candidate Joe Biden who told a (remarkably sparse) largely black audience in Kenosha, Wisconsin that the light bulb was not invented by Thomas Edison but by an African American, Lewis Latimer.

It’s hard to know where Biden—who plagiarized in law school and a fair number of times thereafter and now has, shall we say, issues—gets his information but this would have been news to Latimer himself, a brilliant man with an inspiring story who happens to be the author of “Incandescent Electric Lighting: A Practical Description of the Edison System.” [italics mine]

More significantly and less risibly, a cabal of far left-leaning Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and House members Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) with the choral support of Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) have initiated legislation declaring racism a “public health crisis.”

If this is true—and it’s not; it’s a politically motivated crisis—the “viral load” transmitting this particular illness comes directly from those same Democrats and their media claque. They should all have been wearing masks.

The first spores of this disease appeared during the Obama administration after a black man had been overwhelmingly elected president by supposedly “racist” America not once, but twice.

It’s a Straight Line from Biden to BLM By Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/its-a-straight-line-from-biden-to-blm/

Black Lives Matter is not a reaction to Donald Trump.

‘T he devil made me do it!” That was how funnyman Flip Wilson explained away his rogue moves in 1970s comedy bits. In 2020, it is Joe Biden’s rationalization of the Black Lives Matter revolution, with Baal taking on a decidedly orange cast.

An unmistakable correlation between the radical Left’s extortionate violence and the sudden tightening of polls has stirred the Democrats’ senescent standard-bearer to bolt the basement. He’d hoped to wait another week or so before emerging to read short speeches about President Trump’s erratic handling of COVID-19 (the government’s missteps during the Obama-era swine flu pandemic having apparently slipped Biden’s mind). But he’s got a tiger by the tail in the radical Left, which is turning electoral battlegrounds into smoldering battlefields. So now he’s hustling into the hustings with a narrative about what’s motivating his fellow travelers — who have just added murder to the mayhem they’ve wrought on America’s streets for the past three months.

Here’s the punchline: Trump made them do it!

That was the upshot of the former vice president’s speech in Pittsburgh on Monday. “Are you safe in Trump’s America?” His argument lays at the incumbent president’s feet the upheaval instigated by Democratic supporters in Democrat-run cities. In a weekend warm-up as the flames continued to rise in Portland, Minneapolis, and Kenosha, Biden claimed it is Trump who is “fanning the flames of hate.” By Monday, Biden was roaring about how, on Trump’s watch, the murder rate is up 26 percent in the nation’s cities this year (a shift from Democratic messaging of five minutes ago, which said surging crime was nothing to be concerned about because crime is still historically low — thanks to policing policies Democrats oppose, because, you know, racism).